Just Smile
by alisawesome508
Summary: Set in the Marauders' time period. SB/OC. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"Well of course you're going to be afraid, silly

"Well of course you're going to be afraid, silly. Everyone is afraid on their first day!"

"Thanks, Hunter," I mumbled. My brother was trying to be comforting, but it really wasn't his thing. He was much better at bullying me.

"Anyway," he said while stretching out even more in the car, "its not like you'll be late because you forgot anything. Everyone knows to pick on the Firsty who forgets something and his mom has to run after him trying to hand it to him through a window." He grinned at me and put his huge feet on one of my trunks. Closing his eyes he began to retell the story of Jimmy Phoenix from Harrow. Not like he'd been retelling it for four years now.

My brother Hunter was going to be a Sixth year at Hogwarts. He was in Slytherin and didn't seem too bothered by it. Our American father, however, was not pleased. He was from the South and full of "tough love". He said he didn't want to see Hunter "do something stupid like fall in witha bunch of racist crack heads like the Death Rats". Yeah, that's Dad. Our mother wasn't big on the idea of Hunter being in Slytherin, but she knew that Hunter wasn't as rotten as the rest, he just had insecurity problems. It wasn't really self-esteem, more like he wanted to be left alone when he wanted to be left alone. So he turned to bullying, at a rather young age I might add. It probably started when I came around.

I was going into my first year at Hogwarts. Being a half blood I was really nervous to be getting thrown in with a bunch of other young wizards and witches, times as they were. I had really only seen Hunter and his other aggressive friends and they did not make a very good impression on me.

_"Is this scrawny little thing your sister? She looks more like a mouse!"_

_Hunter chuckled. "Yeah, this is Sherry. She's like seven or something." He shoved my head away from the book I was reading and jumped up the stairs towards the game room. When he pushed my head, though, my head hit the wall with a loud thud. My eyes stung with tears as the three other boys laughed and ran up the stairs after my brother. I glared after them, perturbed that they had interrupted my reading. One boy, Willie Beason, happened to look down at me over his shoulder._

_"Holly shit! Her eyes are red!"_

_The other boys stopped and whirled around to look, but I had already changed them back to a plain, cool blue. Being a Metamorphus was nice._

_"You fag, their blue." Reed Mouser was an Irish boy who looked like he wouldn't win a fight against a fly, but he was quick. Hunter said he was deadly fast, but I doubt that Reed ever did any real killing._

_"They were red a second ago! Honest!" Willie's face turned a slight pink. I think he was a little confused._

_"Liar, how could they be red?" Sean Gilllman was a round boy with a head of beautiful bond curls. It was a shame he was such a pig head._

_"They just were, ok?" Now I knew that Willie was confused. Boy, Slytherins sure are smart._

_"Tit!"_

_"Git!"_

_And that's when they started fighting. They punched and kicked and head butted. I was glad they didn't do anything stupid like try to use magic. They ended up rolling down the stairs in a ball of legs and arms. I jumped up and scooted over to the couch just in time to see Hunter come back out of the game room._

_"What the hell is going on?!" Uh-oh, Daddy's home._

_The three boys tried to stand up, but couldn't manage. Hunter groaned as they fell over again. This drew Dad's attention up to him._

_"Get. Them. Out," he snarled._

Incidents like that had been happening since Hunter came back from Hogwarts that first summer. I didn't like any of his friends, not a single one. But now I was going to a school full of them. Hunter had brought home so many, I didn't see how there could be a single person there who wasn't as pigheaded as the boys I had seen.

I heaved a heavy sigh and stared out my window. My mother turned around in her seat and patted my knee. "Just smile, sweetie. Just smile and it will be alright."

My mother though smiling solved everything. The funny thing was, it had worked so far. She had gone to Hogwarts, too. She was a Hufflepuff and very proud of the fact. Dad had gone to some school in West Texas and had meet Mom at an international meeting of wizarding powers. Both were very involved in politics and horse races and hit it off right away. A year later they were married and the next year Hunter showed up, then came me. They both still love horse races, but are less involved in politics, times being what they are.

I turned back to look at her and smiled while making my face and eyes a slight pink. Mom laughed a little and turned back to the front. There was something about pink eyes that just made her laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

As our car pulled up to Kings Cross my nerves grew

As our car pulled up to Kings Cross my nerves grew. I though I might get sick, but I knew my dad would make a big deal out of it. I tried to focus on other things as we unloaded our trunks. Hunter practically threw his trunk onto this trolley, nearly killing Grits, my owl. Grits hooted angrily but Hunter blew a raspberry and walked into the station, pulling his trolley along. His owl, Bert, was flapping around noisily, clearly distressed by the lack of concern for his safety. Watching him made me think of when we got Grits and Bert.

_It was Christmas morning, the year before Hunter was supposed to go to Hogwarts. It was expected that his letter would come so the past few months had been all about buying things that he would need for school. Of course Mom said everything we bought him would be Christmas presents._

_All of the presents had been opened. There were books all over the place (Hunter had scoffed at them but I couldn't take my eyes off them), a broom waiting by the back door (Hunter had squealed like a little girl when he saw it. Mom hadn't told him about it), and potions supplies scattered around the living room (Hunter had laughed and eyed my new dolls). Mom called us into the kitchen for the last present. Hunter ran to the door while I tried to get up from underneath all my dolls. I heard him swing the door open and then start yelling "Thank you Thank you Thank you!" I finally made it into the kitchen and could not believe what I saw._

_There, in the middle of my kitchen was a huge barn owl. I screamed and ran from the kitchen, the owl screeching behind me. Mom found me quivering under my new dolls and picked me up. "Sweetie, don't you like Hunter's new owl? He named him Bert."_

_I shook my head and buried my face into the crook of her neck. Tears of fear stinging my eyes. As I whipped away my tears my dad called my mom back into the kitchen. "Honey, come take a look at this!"_

_Mom kissed my forehead and carried me with her into the kitchen. I squeeked when I saw Bert perched on Hunter's shoulder and closed my eyes tight. "Oh well now how did that get in there?" I heard my mother say. I peeked around her to peer into the cage to see what my dad was pointing to._

_It was an egg._

_"Now I know that bird is a boy," my father was saying, "so what's an egg doing in it's cage?"_

_"Shelly, sweetie? Do you want a baby owl?" My mother asked me._

_I starred at the egg for a while before nodding slowly._

_It didn't take long before the egg hatched. I was so excited and I wanted to help take care of it, but Mom only let me do small things because I was only five. When it was only a few days old I secretly took her out of her cage and brought her into the kitchen. I put her on the table and was petting her when she suddenly tried to fly, flapping her wings feebly. She did a little hop and wound up in my grits. I laughed loudly because she was the exact color and it was hard to see her, besides her bright amber eyes. I carefully washed her and put her back in her cage before anyone else was up. I was sure to give the grits to the neighbor's cat._

By the time that Mom, Dad, and I got to the barrier I was sure I was going to be sick. Hunter had told me about how weird it feels to get sucked through the barrier, though Mom promised me I wouldn't feel a thing. It was probably not a good thing that I saw Hunter over her shoulder shaking his head with a look of terror on his face.

Mom said she go with me if I wanted and I nodded quickly. She took my hand and began a quick jog at the wall. I squeezed my eyes closed, not wanting to see the wall. Suddenly Mom stopped and I looked around. I was startled to see the red train only a few meters from me. Mom smiled down at me and led me down the platform.

I stared up at the train and wondered how I was going to make any friends. If the train was any indication, the school was huge. This though did give me some hope though. I realized that there was no way Hunter was friends with everyone. This meant that not everyone were jerks. Hopefully.

A whistle blew and startled me out of my thoughts. I hugged Mom and Dad and dragged my trunks and Grits on to the train. I found a compartment nearby and went to the window to wave to my parents. Mom blew kisses and Dad saluted me. I laughed and waved back before pulling my head back inside.

As I began storing my luggage and small red haired girl walked in.

"Hello," she said brightly. "My name is Lily Evans. May I sit with you?"

I nodded and smiled. "I'm Shelly Jensen."

"Nice to meet you Shelly." Lily stood on a seat to put her trunks up, but wasn't tall enough. She jumped a little to get them all the way in. Unfortunately, it was terrible timing. She was wearing a skirt and when she jumped a boy happened to walk by.

"Jump again girl!"

Lily whirled around surprised. "How dare you!"

The boy laughed and walked off.

"I hate boys," groaned Lily, sinking into a seat across from me.

"He didn't see anything," I said, trying to be comforting.

"Well that's one thing."

The train lurched to a start and I felt the nervousness return. I hadn't even realized that the feeling had left.

Then laughter floated in through the open window. Lily and I looked out the window to see what was going on.

"Oh," I said as soon as I saw what it was.

A fat mousy little boy was leaning out of his window a few compartments down with his hands outstretched. A plump little woman was running after the train, holding what seemed to be her son's underwear. She attempted to throw them to her son, but he missed them and they bounced off his face. Luckily, a hand shot out of the window next to him and caught them. There were loud whoops and cheering as the mousy boy's face went red. A face appeared from the window where the hand had caught the underwear. It was another small boy with black hair, glasses, and rather thin lips. "Shove off mates! We've got 'em!" The laughter grew louder but the boy just grinned around, looking rather pleased with himself. The boy looked at me and I pulled my head in. Lily yelled at the boy, "Nice catch," before pulling her head in also.

"So what house do you hope to get into?"

I hesitated before answering. I really hadn't thought about it too much. "Ravenclaw," I said sheepishly.

Lily beamed. "Me too!"

I smiled back at her. Maybe Hogwarts did have a friend for me after all.


	3. Chapter 3

"Have you read any of the textbooks yet

"Have you read any of the textbooks yet?"

I was surprised that anyone else had even thought to read ahead. "Yes. I'm about five chapters in each."

Lily smiled. "I'm around four chapters ahead. Save for Potions, I'm seven ahead. I find it fascinating."

I grinned at her. "Potions is nice. I likeTransfiguration the best." I didn't think I needed to tell her that I had finished our text book. In fact, I was several levels ahead in Transfiguration.

_As Grits began to eat on her own, drink on her own, and start to fly, I became more and more fascinated by her. My mother thought that I was just excited to have something living, something to interact with, something other than those dolls my father insisted on giving me._

_In a way, I can credit Grits for my intelligence. I began reading everything I could on owls as soon as I could. By the time I was eight my magical vocabulary was nearing Hunter's, who had been in school for a few years._

_When I was nine, I stumbled upon an article about Animagi. The knowledge that I could turn into an animal was in my head for weeks. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I knew that I wanted to become an Animagus._

She nodded in agreement. "It's hard to find a class not to like."

We talked about the subjects and what we thought of them so far, based on reading the text. She told me about the first time she did magic in front of her sister and I told her about the first time I showed my parents.

_I was only three years old when it was obvious that I was a witch. It was a cold January morning, and another cold front had come in the night. My mother was taking me to the bathroom against my will. I needed to use the bathroom, but I knew from previous experience that the set would be ridiculously cold. Mom got my pajama bottoms down and sat me down on the seat. And that's when it happened. I levitated off the seat. I was still crying, in the sitting position, but I was about a foot off the seat. My mother called for my father and he came running in. When I opened my eyes I saw his smiling face. It seemed a lot closer than usual so I looked down and saw that I was flying above the ground. That's when I freaked out. A few hours later my Dad was paying a contractor to "finish redecorating the bathroom", my mother was out cold on the couch, and I had seven stitches in my forehead._

An ancient woman rolled a trolley down the aisle and knocked on the compartment doors. "Do you rotters want anything?" When the woman came to use we were too scared to ask for anything, we simply shook our heads.

"I think she called us brats," Lily whispered to me.

I nodded. "I don't doubt it."

Lily suggested that we find some food before changing into our robes. I agreed, my stomach was growling loudly. I patted it sadly. "We could go see if those boys have food," I suggested.

Lily made a face but agreed. "I think it would be best to ask someone who doesn't know how to charm food."

I laughed as we headed toward to compartment were we thought the boy with the glasses would be. Lily knocked and I slid the door open. "Do you boys have any -- oh!"

There were three boys in the compartment and they all turned tolook at Lily and me. The glasses boy was there along with the mousy boy from earlier along with another. The third boy had brown hair and looked tired, though he was chewing a bar of chocolate. Whatsurprised me was the mound offood that was between them.

Lily laughed as the boy with glasses tried to gather all the trash around him. The mousy boy whipped his mouth while the tired boy continued eatinghis chocolate. "We were wondering if you boys hadany sparefood," Lily explained.

The glasses boy nodded and pointed to the mound. He swallowed hard."Help yourselves. I'm James Potter. This is Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin."

"Nice to meet you," Lily said, pick up a few candies.

"Hi," I said while unwrapping a Chocolate Frog.

"Are you girls going to be in First year, too?" James asked.

We nodded as we ate. I reached over and took a few more Frogs. Delicious.

James puffed out his chest. "I hope to be in Gryffindor. Peter is probably going to be in Hufflepuff, poor guy. And Remus there will be a Ravenclaw for sure."

Lily smiled brightly at Remus as I got defensive about Hufflepuff. "What's so bad about Hufflepuff?"

James grinned. "Oh nothing, its just for wussies."

I whipped out my wand and stuck it between his eyes. "My mother was a Hufflepuff," I growled.

Just then another boy charged into the compartment. "Hey James I found out where Snivilus -- whoa."

His entry had distracted me and James had his wand out and pointed at my neck when I looked back. He grinned. "This is Sirius Black. Black as in from the long line of Slytherins. He knows the Dark Arts."

"No I don't."

"Hush!"  
Lily and I laughed and James blushed a bright red and I loweredmy wand.James did the same.

"So who are you?" Sirius asked.

James coughed. "Sirius these are -- um -- I don't know."

Lily and I laughed again, causing James to turn a deeper shade of red.

"I'm Lily and this is Shelly. We want to be in Ravenclaw."

"Oh! You hear that Remus? Girl nerds!" Sirius seemed to be pleased with himself. I noticed the Lily blushed a little though. Remun nodded and smiled at Lily.

"Well," Lily said, "we'll just take a few more Frogs and get back to our compartment. See you later."

They said goodbye as we scooped up a few Frogs and departed.

When we were back in our compartment we busted out laughing. After we were done with the Frogs we changed into our robes and talked about the four boys. There was a lot of blushing and giggling.


	4. Chapter 4

"He was pretty cute," I agreed with Lily

"He was pretty cute," I agreed with Lily.

She blushed, giggled, and buried her face in her robes. "Oh, I really hope that we're all in Ravenclaw!" She poked her head through her robes and smiled at me. "Ooh, and what about James? Seems like a right old toe rag."

I shrugged. I though he was confident, even if he was wrong. He was funny, too. "I'm sure he's not really that bad."

Lily pouted. "Yeah, you're probably right. Are we slowing down?"

I could feel the nervousness creeping up on me again. "Yes, I think so."

Soon we were stopped and filing out onto the platform. A giant of a man called for all the first years. When we were all gathered around him Lily saw some one and waved cheerily. I looked to see who it was. A boy with oily hair gave a small wave back and a smile. It was then that I noticed James and Sirius behind him. James was now awestruck, looking between Lily and the oily boy. Sirius, I saw, was looking at the giant man. I turned my attention back to him to hear whatever he was saying.

Whatever it was, I missed it. But everyone started moving. I just stuck with Lily and tried to look around a bit.

It turned out we had to boat across the lake. Great. It was a dark night and the lake looked evil. At least now I could see Hogwarts. The sight of my new home erased all thoughts of the black lake.

Lily and I climbed into a boat and were joined by the oily haired boy. He nodded at me then quickly began to talk to Lily.

"Hi, Lily. Are you ready for this? Didn't I tell you this is how it would be. There's a squid under the boat. A few years ago a kid fell in and they had to --"

The oily boy was interrupted by a loud splash and several yells. I looked up ahead and saw that there was capsized boat floating away from the group. I looked in the water and saw fourstreams of bubbles. Searching the other boats, I knew right away which four it was in the water. I sat back in my seat and whispered to Lily, "Its those four boys we met. They flipped their boat."

Before Lily could respond there was an even louder splash as the giant man jumped into the black water.

"Great!" someone cried out. "Now we've got nobody to take us to shore!"

Lily and I rolled our eyes. "They're self guided," Lily yelled back.

There were a few giggles from the boats around us. I did notice that the boats had slowed, however. In just a few moments we were at the other side. There waiting for us were the four boys and the giant man.

The giant man led us up to the castle in silence. Well, he was silent, the boys weren't.

"James was the one who started it!" Sirius was dripping wet. His hair was still in his face but his grey eyes were full of laughter.

"Yeah, but then Sirius had the idea to stand up." James' hair was all over the place, very messy.

"And then Remus told them to stop it, but they didn't listen." Peter looked scared, but he was still excited.

"So Peter joined them." Remus looked a little irritated.

"And Remus gave up fighting us."Sirius grinned.

"And that's when we flipped it." James laughed.

"And I sank." Peter's face went red.

"And Hagrid had to save him." Remus looked a little amused now. He saw me and gave me a bigger smile. He paused a little to letus catch up to him. He walked between Lily and me. The oily boy was next to Lily and James fell back and began walking right behind them. I gave him a look but he didn't see it. Sirius did though. He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"I'm glad no one in our boat thought that would be a good idea," said the boy with the oily hair.

Lily laughed and nodded. "Oh, I'd hate to get wet tonight!"

"Aw, it's really not all that bad!" James said cheerily. Then he sneezed all over Lily's back.

"Gross! Thanks a lot, Potter!"

"Potter," the oily boy said airily, "why don't you and your friends find somewhere else to be so disgusting?"

"Why don't you go somewhere else to be so disgusting?" Sirius growled into his ear, right behind him.

"Don't talk to Severus like that!"

"Lily," I said, trying to calm everyone down, "why don't we just go to the front and let the boys sort this out." I tugged on her arm to get her to come with me. We left the boys quietly, hoping that they would behave themselves.


	5. Chapter 5

As we walked into Hogwarts I was totaly breathtaken

As we walked into Hogwarts I was totally breath taken. It was just like I had read, only better. Way better. I glanced at Lily and could tell she was thinking the same thing. From the hushed voices behind us I knew we weren't the only ones.

A teacher was now ushering us into the Great Hall in front of hundreds of other students. At first this made me feel better, I thought maybe I would find more friends. But quickly that feeling was replaced with one of dread. The teacher got an old hat and a stool. My mother and Hunter had told me about sorting, though Hunter's version involved a lot of bloodshed.

After the hat sang about the different houses the teacher began calling us up, one by one. I really wished I had paid more attention to who the teacher was as she called Sirius up first. He walked up to the stool and sat down, flipping his hair out of his eyes. He grinned at James before the hat was placed on his head. It only took a moment before the hat placed him in Gryffindor.

Soon Lily's name was called and I held my breath. The hat paused for only a small moment before placing her in Gryffindor. As she climbed down from the stool she gave me a small smile and a shrug.

Kids went into the different houses by handfuls, but not many were going into Gryffindor. In fact, besides Sirius and Lily, there had been only one other girl, Kelly Fugit. Before I knew it, the teacher was calling my name. I was shaking slightly as I walked up to the stool. As I sat down I realized just how many people were at Hogwarts. All I could think about was how I desperately wanted to make friends here. I hadn't even realized that the teacher had placed the hat on my head until it yelled out "Gryffindor" right over me. I jumped a little but slid off the stool, trying to find Lily at the table. She waved me over and I wandered over to her, my mind numb with shock.

"I -- I didn't even--" I stammered.

"Me neither!" Lily laughed as we sat down together. Sirius was across from me and he smiled before returning his attention to the next person being sorted.

Remus Lupin was called after a few others who went into Hufflepuff. The hat straightened a little when placed on his head. Remus' face was calm, he was sitting up straight, and he was staring right at me, or so it seemed. He began to smile and just as he did the hat declared that he would be a Gryffindor. I clapped with the others as Remus made his way over to our table. He sat down across from me, next to Sirius. I looked at Lily and laughed to myself when I saw a pink blush to her cheeks.

Peter Petigrew was the next person I knew. The hat was on his head for what seemed like an eternity before putting him in Gryffindor.

James Potter was next. He sauntered up to the stool and sat down and grinned at Sirius. Sirius gave James a thumbs up in return. Almost as soon as it touched his head, the hat bellowed Gryffindor as James' house. As he slid off the stool I noticed that his wand was tucked up his sleeve. Before I could wonder aloud to Lily was he was doing James pulled out his want and shot gold and red streamers into the air. They went high and when they came down they covered all four house tables and even the teachers' table. The Gryffindors laughed but most of the others didn't look too amused. When James sat down across from me and Lily expecting praise Lily rolled her eyes and turned to see who was being sorted next. I would have told him I thought it was amusing, but he didn't even look at me.

Severus Snape was called, the only other person I knew. He was placed into Slytherin after a long time. The Slytherins celebrated loudly, as they had done for all the other new students who were placed into their house.

After the last student was sorted, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, stood and welcomed the students for the new year. His speech was short and sweet and when he was done the feast began.


	6. Chapter 6

The food was absolutely amazing

The food was absolutely amazing. I had never tasted so many excellent dishes! I filled my first plate with chicken, pork, and beef. My second plate was with all my favorite veggies and a few types of bread. I was so busy stuffing my face that I barley noticed the growing tension at the table.

"Potter, will you please but out? Remus and I are trying to have a nice conversation." Lily was white-knuckling her fork and knife.

"Lily, I was only--" James was tried to pat her hand.

"Don't call me Lily, Potter," she snarled while fending off James' hand with her fork.

"Lily Potter has a nice ring to it. Almost as good as James Potter." James smirked at Lily. I thought he looked dashing. Lily, apparently, thought that he was disgusting. She let out a frustrated yell and tried to stab his hand.

I laughed and turned back to my plate. But before I took another bite, I noticed that Remus was staring at me. My hand flew instantly to my mouth to check if any of my veggies had ended up on my chin. Remus just smiled and continued eating his dinner.

Still worried about my face, I turned to Lily. "Is there anything on my face?"

"No," she said while glaring at James.

"Yes," laughed Sirius. I looked at him and just as I did he hit me right on the nose with a lump of mashed potatoes.

"Black!" I wiped of the potatoes with my napkin and glared at Sirius.

Peter started laughing with James but stopped when I glared at him instead. He hunkered down and stared at his plate.

"Oh no! It looks like our Firsties are already fighting! What should we do about it?" I looked to see who was talking and saw that a very tall, thick boy towering over me.

"I dunno, Rads, we could give them detention in the dungeons or make them scrub the Great Hall after the feast." There was a short girl with curly blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail next to Rads. She looked a little mean.

"No way, Clarice! Then we'd have to wait up for them! No, it'd be easier just to kill them now." And with that he whipped out his wand with a flourish and stuck it behind my ear.

Before I had time to panic I saw that James and Sirius had their wands out, too. Apparently I had friends already.

"No need for that,_ Rads_," James said evenly. Sirius just glared at the two older students. His mouth was stuffed full with potatoes. Gross.

Rads and Clarice laughed and walked away after completely messing up my hair. I was about to just change it, but instead I ran my hands through it, trying to fix it somewhat.

"Don't mind them," said a boy leaning over the table towards me. "Radwan and Clarice are Head Boy and Girl this year. They just don't want anyone from their house messing around. I'm Michael by the way, 5th year." He stuck his hand out to me and I smiled as I took it.

"I'm, um, I'm Shelly."

"Shelly. Pretty name."

I just smiled at him and he went back to his dinner.


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the feast was pretty uneventful. When everyone seemed to need the next pant size the headmaster stood once more and gave another short speech. It was dull, about some basic rules and how to make sure you stay out of trouble. I was much to tired to pay attention and I almost fell asleep on Lily.

Finally he was finished and everyone headed into the castle. I heard older students calling for each other and greeting one another. Nobody seemed to be alone. While I was thinking about this I heard someone call my name. I turned around, surprising my self by hoping that it was James. It was Sirius, though. He was waving me to follow him and the other first years. I felt my cheeks go red and realized that I was following a group of older Ravenclaws.

"Thanks," I mumbled and fell instep with Sirius.

"No problem."

There were about a billion staircases and they all moved. I knew right away I'd probably never get to class on time. Besides having no concept of time management I could get lost on a compass.

I tried hard to pay attention to where I was but it was a lost cause after about the fourth turn down another corridor. I gave up and just looked at all the neat paintings.

Eventually we arrived at a portrait of a large woman in pink. Someone at the front of the group must have said a password because suddenly we were shuffling through the hole and into the common room.

I followed Lily up the stairs and up to our room. We -- Lily, myself, Kelly, Kaitlin, and Michelle -- got dressed in silence and climbed into our warm beds. Sleep came fast, almost without giving me enough time to think about James. Almost.

I woke early, as usual, and stumbled into our decent sized bathroom. I scrubbed my face and brushed my hair before tying it back in a loose bun at the back of my neck. I was going back and forth between staring at the bags under my eyes and the new addition of my stomach when Lily stumbled in.

"Morning," I said softy.

She mumbled something that sounded like a greeting and grabbed a towel from our linen closet. I left her as she was turning on the water for a shower. Not hungry for breakfast quite yet, I returned to the table by my bed and grabbed a book. Creeping quietly from our room I made my way down to the common room. I stretched out on the largest couch, the one in front of the fire, and covered my self with a throw blanket and several large pillows. I stayed like that for somewhere around ten minutes before other students began coming down for breakfast.

Soon I noticed that nobody was even looking at me. I didn't move much when I turned pages and I was very quiet just lying there on the couch. This amused me for a while until someone sat on me.

"Umph!"

"Ahh! Oh! I am so sorry, Shelly."

When the rather large rear lifted up off my face I saw that it was Peter. Great. Just who's ass I wanted all over my face.

"It's alright, Peter." I began to get up to go put my book away, now that my hiding spot had been discovered.

"Here, let me help," Peter squeaked. He tried to push the pillows off of my legs but ended up going to far and touching my bare leg. He squeaked in embarrassment and stuttered apologies while I glared daggers at him. I got up in a hurry and stormed off towards the stairs. I looked over my shoulder and caught him looking at my ass.

"Pervert!" I yelled as I ran up the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

I went down to breakfast later with Lily and Kelly

I went down to breakfast later with Lily and Kelly. Along the way we met Remus and we all sat together, Remus between Lily and me and across from Kelly. We were talking about the different professors when James and Sirius came and sat on either side of Kelly. She looked at me with mock terror in her eyes and I laughed out loud. Sirius, who was sitting across from me, looked at Kelly, but she simply picked up her spoon and continued eating her oatmeal.

I tried to catch James' eye by stretching, but he was occupied by trying to talk to Lily. She wouldn't even look at him, she would nod or shrug but kept her eyes on her toast. Clearly uncomfortable, she shifted in her seat, moving closer to Remus.

Remus choked slightly on his own toast when Lily moved closer. Slowly he set the toast down and stood slightly to brush the crumbs off his pants. I think he sat down a little closer to me, but not by any comparable distance.

Peter didn't have the guts to come sit with us. When he did manage to make his way down to our table, he sat at the end, alone.

"So Shelly, I heard you beat the crud outta poor Peter earlier." Sirius was smiling at me around a large mouthful of orange.

"What did that little creeper tell you?" I growled.

"Oh, something about you getting angry after he wouldn't put out."

I let out a noise of frustration (something between a cat and a car crash) as I swatted at Sirius' stuffed face.

Unfortunately for me, I actually hit him.

When my hand connected with his cheek some orange was forced out through his lips and it sprayed all over me. I sat there in a boiling rage, hand still lying across the table. Almost everyone was holding still, not daring to breathe. Everyone except for James. I felt tears sting my eyes as James roared with laughter.

"Oh man, Sirius! That was great!"

"Shut it, James! Shelly, I'm so sorry! I – I didn't mean to! You just surprised me! Here, let me help." He reached across to wipe off some of the orange spit from my face by I took the napkin and hid my face in it, pretending to clean myself.

Just as I had decided to hurl the napkin back at Sirius one of the professors walked by, handing out schedules. I decided that my revenge could wait.

When we had all received our class list from our head of house we discussed the classes and what we had heard about the teachers. I didn't pitch in too much to this conversation. For one, I had only heard terrible things about the professors, but that had come from Hunter. I was also preoccupied with getting Sirius back.

Somehow, I made it to my first class on time. It was probably because I had been distracted and randomly followed a cute Hufflepuff boy. Thank goodness that we had Potions with the Hufflepuffs! Once in class I had not really paid attention to what the professor was saying and I had missed his name. He assigned a simple potion for us to get started on after a short lecture.

I was a few steps a head of everyone (except for Lily) when I had a question about one of the directions. I wanted to know if I could cut one of the leaves differently, a more effective way. The fat professor was all the way across the room helping a Hufflepuff get his fire started so I didn't just want to yell across the classroom. I leaned over to Sirius, my assigned partner for this potion, and asked him what the guys name was in a low whisper.

"It's Slughorn, duh. Don't let him know you didn't know his name. You wouldn't want to get on this guys bad side."

And that's where I got my idea for my revenge.

I straightened my supplies, took a deep breath, and cleared my throat. "Oh Professor, could you please come here for a moment?"

He stood up and waddled towards our table. Sirius gave me a curious glance, but I ignored him. Once Slughorn was at our table I began my revenge.

"I was just wondering if it wouldn't be a better idea to crush the leaves with the blade if the purpose is to extract as much juice as we can with each leaf. When I do it like this," I paused a moment to demonstrate, "I only have to use two leaves, not six." I smiled at him and waited for him to respond.

He beamed at me. "Well absolutely!" That's all he said, but he continued to look between me, my potion, and Sirius' potion.

I smiled sweetly at him and crushed my other leaf and added it to the potion. "Thanks Professor Slugtub," I said as nicely as I could.

"What did you call me?"

"Um…Professor Slug…tub?" I tried my best to look confused and slightly scared.

Slughorn straightened up and coughed a little. "My dear, my name is Professor Slughorn."

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" I looked over to Sirius, who was suddenly bent over his caludron and was very still. "Oh how could you Sirius!"

Sirius stood up and looked hard at me. He knew exactly what I was doing.

"Oh Professor I'm sorry. I missed your name at the start of class and I asked Sirius here what your name was. I guess there was just some miscommunication."

And with that I returned to my potion, a smile plastered to my face.

"Mister Black. May I see you after class?"


	9. Chapter 9

Sirius caught up to Lily and I not long after we left Potions. We were headed down to the greenhouses for Herbology, my least favorite subject, when he ran up behind me and was grinning at me like a fool.

"Potter's up ahead if you want to go talk to him," Lily said sourly. James had pulled Remus away from between us almost as soon as we were outside. I was certain now that Lily enjoyed Remus' company much more than James'. Remus was nice, but James was amusing. I had already forgiven him in my head for laughing at me that morning.

"Actually, I was here to talk to Shelly. Professor Slugtub – I mean Slughorn wanted me to tell you that we have detention tonight at seven, in his office."

I stopped walking. Sirius started running.

Sirius and I managed to make it just in time to Herbology. He was covered in dirt and grass was still in his hair. I was flushed and my elbows and knees were red and bleeding slightly.

James and Lily were at a large pot together and seemed to be getting along. Sirius and I grabbed the nearest pot and stood waiting for the teacher to begin.

"I had no idea that you were that aggressive!"

"Be quiet, Black!"

"Shelly, please don't call me by my last name. I hate it."

"Whatever." Unfortunately, I said it just a bit too loudly.

"What was that?" Oh great, the teacher was talking.

"I'm sorry," I said louder over the murmurs of the class, "I was just going to ask you what kind of weather would affect how we conduct class." Oh yeah, I'm good.

"Oh, well that's an excellent question!" She went on to answer my question, but I didn't hear a word of it. Sirius was whispering in my ear.

"Wow, I am truly impressed. I think you just avoided another detention." He was much too close for comfort so I applied pressure on his toes until he leaned away, whining like a seven-year-old.

Eventually the professor, I missed her name, began giving us very detailed instructions on how to layer the different soils in the large pots in front of us.

"Oh come on," I moaned under my breath. "It's just dirt!"

Sirius grinned while he was dragging a large bag of dragon dung over to our pot. I really should have seen it coming. When he was lifting the bag to pour some in, he managed to grab a handful of the nasty stuff and rub it into the sleeve of my robes.

I groaned and could already feel my skin under the sleeve tingle with disgust. I narrowed my eyes at Sirius. He gave me an innocent look before his face broke out in a wide grin.

"Smiling really suits you," I said slowly.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," I said quietly, walking towards him. Before he could say anything else I had rubbed his back in dung. "What's wrong? Why don't you smile?"

He stared at me in shock. He opened his mouth to say something but then the teacher walked by our pot. "And how are you two doing?"

"Just fine," I said brightly. I grabbed another handful of dung and spread it evenly at the bottom of the pot. She nodded and smiled and walked on to James and Lily's side of the long table.

Just then, out of the corner of my eye I saw something flying towards us. I ducked and a wad of dung smacked Sirius in the face.

"Who threw that?" the teacher demanded sternly.

Nobody confessed. Sirius was glaring at the Slytherins down at the other end of the table. John Warner and Matthew Granato seemed pretty happy about something and I figured that Sirius suspected them as well.

"Well if nobody did it then let's get back to work! Chop chop!"

Warner and Granato waved at Sirius and me and both grabbed another handful of dung. We glared at them, daring them to throw it.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," I murmured to Sirius.

"Then we'll throw them in the lake," he said in a low voice.

I laughed a little but Sirius didn't. "Oh! You're serious! We can't throw them in the lake, we'll get caught and thrown in detention again!" I was whispering and throwing glances at the professor and the two Slytherins.

"Fine, baby. I'll do it myself." He began filling the pot again. Then he dragged the bag away and brought back a different one.

"Oh no you don't! You won't do it by yourself! You'd get caught. I'm coming with you. And don't call me a baby, Black."

Sirius grabbed my right hand suddenly with his own. "And you won't call me by my last name. Deal." He lifted my hand and dropped it and returned to the new soil and our pot.

"Deal," I mumbled.

For the rest of class we worked in silence, bent over bags of soil. We were the first to finish and were awarded 10 points each. We were even dirtier now but it didn't matter, everyone was covered with different soils and sweat.

As we filed out of the greenhouse, Sirius us and I followed Warner and Granato. Once we were out of the professor's hearing range Sirius pushed in between them, pulling me along by my hand. Both our hands were covered with various dirt, but I still flinched away from the filth of his touch. "See you boys tonight," he snarled as we passed between them.

I let him hold my hand until we were far enough away that I knew I could make it to the castle before Warner and Granato. I pulled my hand back and looked back over my shoulder to make sure the two weren't already after me. They were slightly intimidating as they glared back at me. Warner cut his finger across his throat. I walked a little closer to Sirius and just smiled down at the two thugs.


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you ok?"

I jumped slightly at the sound of James' voice. I looked up and saw that Lily was walking with James and that Remus was ahead of them with Peter. James had a smudge of dirt across one side of his face and I wondered if Lily had slapped him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius yelled to James.

James nodded and threw Sirius a thumbs up. My face went red. I thought he was asking how _I_ was. I sped up away from Sirius and past James and Lily to walk with Kaitlin and Michelle.

"Hey," I mumbled to my fellow Gryffindors.

"Hey, Shelly!" Kaitlin was so friendly it amazed me. She was about as tall as I was, with long brown hair that hung down to her waist. She had freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks. Adorable.

Michelle linked arms with me and beamed at me. "Way to get us points!" I had to tilt my head up to her to smile back. She was long and lean, with black hair to the middle of her back. Her parents were from China, but she had lived in London all her life.

"No problem." We were walking quickly now that the ground beneath our feet was leveling out. I was glad to be getting away from James and thankful for the dirt covering the burning embarrassment on my cheeks.

We walked back to the castle and back to the common room to change and switch books for the afternoon classes. I was so glad that Kaitlin and Michelle knew their way around so much better than I did. I had lunch with them and Joseph Kirasich, another boy in our year, before following them to History.

I slid into a seat by a wall. Hunter had told me about the boring ghost, and I was prepared for the worst. I hated History, the only class that I didn't do as well in. I was already a head, but only because I had forced myself to read our textbook at night.

I was digging around in my bag for a quill when I heard someone plop down into the seat next to mine, dropping their bag next to mine. I jerked my head up to see who it was and collided with something very hard.

"Ow!" I cried out as white spots danced in front of my eyes. When I could focus my eyes on the person beside me I groaned. Sirius was rubbing his forehead and scowling at me.

"What do you want, Sirius?" I had to force myself not to call him by his last name. It was especially hard to do because I was irritated by his thick skull and his presence at my table.

"Have you noticed who we have class with? I'm not leaving you alone."

"What are you talking about? I can sit by myself, you don't have to be all noble or whatever you think it is that you're doing. Thanks for the bruise, you can leave now." I was grumbling while rubbing my sore head, but I did take a glance around the room. Slytherins. Terrific. And sure enough, our new pals Warner and Granato were sitting a row and a column away from me. Well, away from _us._

Just as Sirius began to gather his things, he was irritated at me and my attitude toward his attempt to be nice, the oblivious Professor Binns floated through the front wall. I put a hand over his on his book bag strap and shook my head. He looked irritated still but settled into his seat.

Whoever thought to give poor students History of Magic after lunch is truly an evil being. It was only ten minutes into the most boring lecture when the first heads started dropping. Soon after that there was only one head up – Lily's. James was sitting behind her, staring at her hair. I wished that I could have chunked an ink bottle at his stupid head, but I didn't want to hit Lily.

I looked beside me and saw that Sirius was awake; his chin was on top of his hands and his face was blankly staring at Binns. Beyond him, at the desk next to us, Peter was asleep while Remus took notes with his face on the desk, turned to one side. _Well_, I _thought, at least there's two Gryffindors with notes._ I glanced around at the Slytherins but as far as I could tell they were all asleep.

Something nudged my arm and I gasped quietly. It was Sirius' quill. _Great_, I thought, _what does he want now?_ I poked him back with my quill, maybe a little bit harder than necessary. He frowned and poked me back. I rolled my eyes and put my head down, facing away from him.

_Poke, poke_. I swatted at him over my head, closing my eyes. _Poke, poke_. Sighing, I closed my eyes tighter. _Poke, poke_.

"What?" I turned my head over on my desk and hissed at him.

Sirius used his quill point to pass a folded piece of parchment toward my face. When I just stared at it he nudged it again, this time until it was up against my nose. Slowly, I dragged my arm from my lap to take the note. I unfolded it as slowly as I could, ignoring Sirius' huffs of impatience, and read:

Tonight. 8 o'clock. Owlery.

I rolled my eyes after reading the bland note. Sirius had gone back to staring at Binns. I crumpled up the note and chunked it at James. It bounced off his shoulder and onto Peter's desk. _Oh, God, no!_ I laid my head back down on my desk as quickly as I could without smashing my head through it.

Before I could panic about the note in Peter's hands the bell sounded, saving me from an approaching anxiety attack. I gathered my things and scooted out the door, keeping my eyes glued to the floor before my feet.


	11. Chapter 11

I didn't mention the note until dinner was over. I had to wait for Sirius to finish stuffing his face so I was already irritated. I waved off Lily and Michelle and began tapping my foot while James went on and on about flying practice tomorrow.

"Peter might be there tonight," I said as soon as James was away from the table. I stared at him as he processed the thought along with a mouth full of green beans. He swallowed and I braced myself.

"So?" And with that he shoveled in more beans.

"So don't you think he'll want to tag along if he finds out what we're doing? They picked on him, too. And don't you want to know how he found out?"

I don't know if he had anything to say or if the beans in his mouth prevented him from forming words. I was grateful that he shrugged and didn't try to speak.

"See you," I huffed, pushing myself up and away from the table. I stalked off to try to find the common room on my own. I knew this wasn't a great idea, but I really didn't enjoy Sirius' disgusting company.

Three minutes later, I was totally lost. New record for me. As I stumbled around, looking for a map I noticed a familiar tapestry. It stood out to me because it was so ridiculous. Honestly, who would even think of teaching trolls ballet? Also I remembered seeing it earlier. And when I say earlier I mean 30 seconds ago.

It was then when I noticed a random door across from the tapestry. It was surprising to see it there because I was certain there had not been one there moments before. Not wanting to be out in the corridor if Sirius happened to wander this way, not that I had any idea where I was, I eased the door open.

"Awesome," was all I could manage to get out. There in front of me was a room very similar to the one in my house. The walls were a light brown wood paneling with a darker wood floor. In one corner there were two mattresses laid corner to corner with many bright throw pillows. Next to the mattresses was a large stone fireplace with a roaring fire burning away. On the other side of the small room were a comfy looking couch and a love seat, both a bright shade of pink. Next to the love seat was a thick wood table, and on the table, candles in all shades of pink were slowly burning. The main thing that was missing, making it unlike her own room, were the huge windows.

I flopped into the loveseat, stared around the room, and just smiled.

When I woke up I had the odd feeling I was being watched. As I stretched from my bed on the floor I glanced around the familiar room. Nothing seemed out of place but I was still uneasy. I then noticed that there was a house elf standing across the room from me, holding folded robes.

"Hello, how are you?"

The elf squeaked and jumped a little but said nothing.

"Are those for me?" I tired to ask as kindly as I could, I hadn't meant to startle to poor thing.

The elf nodded and hurried over to me. I noticed at once the long lashes on the bright blue eyes and assumed that this particular elf was a female. She set my robes in front of my on a pillow and took a few steps away.

"Would Missus like anything else?" Her blue eyes were staring at my feet. She had not once yet looked me in the eye.

"What's your name?"

"My name? Missus, I don't know my name, Missus." She began to shift her weight from one foot to the other, uncomfortable now.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I upset you. I was just asking so I could thank you."

"Missus could have thanked me without knowing my name," the elf mumbled to the floor at her feet.

"True. Well then, thank you very much."

I had barely gotten the words out before the elf disappeared. As soon as she was gone I wished I had thought to ask her for the time. Without my windows I had no way to tell what time it now was.

Changing into my robes I wondered what time it could be._ It must be morning, _I thought,_ because the elf brought me new robes. Perhaps I haven't missed class, not that I'll be able to find my way without – Sirius! _It was then that I remembered that I was supposed to meet Sirius in the Owlery.

I ran out of the door with my robes on crooked and my shoes on the wrong feet. I stumbled down the hall and turned the corner and collided with an unknown mass.

As I flung hair out of my face I growled angrily at whoever it was, "Thanks!"

"Sorry, Stephanie." I was about to punch whoever it was when I got my hair out of my face and saw that it was James.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing?" I spat angrily.

"Um, I was going to class. We have history now, remember?"

"History is downstairs, dummy."

"I was coming from the Hospital Wing. Didn't you hear about Sirius?"


	12. Chapter 12

"S—S—Sirius?"

"Yeah, he and Peter got beat up last night. Well, Peter ran and Sirius got the beating and ended up in the Hospital Wing."

"What happened?!" I was so not concerned about the increasing number of students in the corridor.

"Well, from what I could understand through his missing teeth, Sirius --"

"Forget it," I cut him off. "Take me."

"What?"

"I said take me! Take me to the idiot!" I pulled out my wand and pointed it at him.

James shifted his weight uncomfortably, eyeing my wand. "But we have class…"

I snarled through my teeth, "The idiot. Now!" The growing traffic in the corridors began to take notice of us, but I ignored the looks.

"Uh, Stephanie --"

A blue cloud of sparks erupted from my wand, covering James' face. "My name is Shelly!"

"Shelly?" asked a timid voice. I turned to see Lily and two older students with badges on their chests. Dread filled me as I thought about how bad that must have looked. But the sparkling cloud thinned out and James was standing there unharmed.

Lily and the older students relaxed when it was obvious that I hadn't harmed James in a fit of rage. Really, it was quite obvious to me that I hadn't done anything. After all, I wasn't so advanced in my magical studies to know wordless spells. Just as I was about to point that out to Lily and the badge wearing students something caught my eye in the crowd. More like some_one_ caught my eye.

Sirius.

I ran to him and flung my arms around him and was talking at once. "Oh, Sirius! I'm so sorry that I didn't come! I got lost and then I found my room and fell asleep! So sorry! But it looks like the healer did a good job on you! What happened? Who was it? Was it just Warner and Granato? Oh, Sirius!" I clutched onto him again, holding him close.

I felt terrible! Because of me this poor boy had his arse handed to him by some Slytherin creepers. At least now he was alright. We'd get those punks later, whoever all it was that hurt Sirius.

Sirius pulled away from me and stared at me. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?" I saw his eyes move beyond and behind me.

I whirled around to see James gesturing to stop talking. It took all I had not to change my eyes and face and hair to something truly terrifying. So Sirius hadn't been hurt. But know I looked like a fool. Lifting my wand again, I pointed it firmly at James. "Run," I growled.

The boy stood there, stock still. Moron.

I muttered something no one else could hear and flicked my wand in a downward motion. I smiled at James and turned to Lily. "Class time?" I walked to her and linked arms with her, pulling her away from the badges and the boys and the watching students.

"What did you do?"

"Give it a few days, you'll see."

"What did you do?!"

"Just a harmless curse I invented." I grinned at the though of seeing Potter in a few days.

Lily stopped walking. "A curse you invented?" Her voice was small and afraid.

"Oh Lily! It's only a hex. I call it a curse because that's what Potter will call it. It's not harmful, just humiliating."

Lily didn't look convinced. She let go of my arm and we made our way to class. I didn't mind that Lily was worried; she'd see soon enough what I had done. Everyone would.


End file.
